silence.

Yet, some of them have left us a modest token of remembrance, an almost
impalpable nothing, sufficient, however, to enable us to address our
thanks to the considerate messenger.

* * * * *

Can there be any one upon the Earth who has not been struck by the
phosphorescent lights that glide through the somber night, leaving a
brilliant silver or golden track--the luminous, ephemeral trail of a
meteor?

Sometimes, when Night has silently spread the immensity of her wings
above the weary Earth, a shining speck is seen to detach itself in the
shades of evening from the starry vault, shooting lightly through the
constellations to lose itself in the infinitude of space.

[Illustration: FIG. 54.--A Meteor.]

These bewitching sparks attract our eyes and chain our senses.
Fascinating celestial fireflies, their dainty flames dart in every
direction through space, sowing the fine dust of their gilded wings upon
the fields of Heaven. They are born to die; their life is only a breath;
yet the impression which they make upon the imagination of mortals is of
the profoundest.

The young girl dreaming in the delicious tranquillity of the transparent
night smiles at this charming sister in the Heavens (Fig. 54). What can
not this adorable star announce to the tender and loving heart? Is it
the shy messenger of the happiness so long desired? Its unpremeditated
appearance fills the soul with a ray of hope and makes it tremble. It is
a golden beam that glides into the heart, expanding it in the thrills of
a sudden and ephemeral pleasure.... The radiant meteor seems to quit the
velvet of the deep blue sky to respond to the appeal of the imploring
voice that seeks its succor.

What secrets has it not surprised! And who bears malice against it? It
is the friend of the betrothed who invoke its passage to confide their
wishes, and associate it with their dreams. Tradition holds that if a
wish be formulated during the visible passage of a meteor it will
certainly be fulfilled before the year is out. Between ourselves,
however, this is but a surviving figment of the ancestral imagination,
for this celestial jewel takes no such active part in the doings of
Humanity.... Besides, try to express a wish distinctly in a second!

It is a curious fact that while comets have so often spread terror on
the Earth, shooting stars should on the contrary have been regarded with
benevolent feelings at all times.